Bury St Edmunds: Creative spark lights up the town

Arc in Bury St Edmunds will play host to a Christmas light spectacular.

Archant

AN IMAGINATIVE idea to light up the Arc Shopping Centre, in Bury St Edmunds, was unveiled last night.

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It’s the brainchild of Cate Hadley, the gallery director at the Apex, and Stowmarket-based Marc Smith, who was exhibiting some of his photographic work at the entertainment and art complex earlier this year.

And after discussions with officials at the Arc the idea has now come to fruition.

They have linked up with Australian-based Rejenr8 Productions to project a host of festive images and messages on the six gabled-ended buildings opposite the Apex.

It shows 50 different clips and a 3D Christmas world throughout a programme which is to be displayed in the three late night shopping evenings in the town on December 6, 13 and 20 from two projectors situated on the balcony of the Apex.

Cate said that she had spoken to Mark about trying to create some kind of artwork on the buildings which she described as a “blank canvas”.

From there he linked up with Matt Taylor, technical manager of Rejenr8, and the scheme developed.

The company, which has its UK office in Bournemouth, has mainly worked at music festivals and the latest initiative in Bury is unique.

Colin Roberts, the Arc’s centre manager, said: “We were looking for a different idea and this one came up and it’s such a perfect canvas to project these images.

“It’s really is quite different and we think we are the first shopping centre in the county to do this and possibly the first in the country.”

Dramatic increases in the average age of people in Suffolk have been highlighted in a report which reveals that in some areas nearly one in 10 are expected to be aged 85 or over in the next two decades.